Wednesday, May 26, 2010

LISA TRACZ TALKS ABOUT CONCORD HOSPITALITY SHARE DAY 2010

Lisa Tracz is the General Manager of Residence Inn Missisauga Airport Corporate Centre West (a Concord company hotel) and a key organizer of Concord Hospitality Share Day 2010.

We asked her to talk about Share Day 2010, the partnership with FTC Canada and why a family food box distribution matters.

CONCORD HOSPITALITY TEAMS UP WITH FTC CANADA FOR SHARE DAY 2010

May 25, 2010

Toronto, ON – Thanks to the hard work and generosity of 10 Toronto area hotels, 400 local area families received much needed food and supplies this past week.

Over 25 hotel staff were on hand at Rexdale Alliance Church on May 20th in Etobicoke, ON to volunteer their time to distribute the food boxes packed by FTC Canada. This was all part of Share Day 2010, which is organized by the hotels parent company Concord Hospitality Enterprises. Toronto was one of 7 North American cities that participated in the company’s 2nd Annual Share Day which saw 3,500 families receive food and supplies across Canada and the U.S.

The GTA hotels that participated in this year’s event were the Crowne Plaza Hamilton, Courtyard by Marriott Hamilton, Courtyard by Marriott Markham, Courtyard by Marriott Mississauga Airport/Corporate Centre West, Courtyard by Marriott Mississauga/Meadowvale, Courtyard by Marriott Vaughan, Residence Inn Markham, Residence Inn Mississauga Airport/Corporate Centre West, Residence Inn Mississauga/Meadowvale, and Residence Inn Vaughan.

To learn more about Concord Hospitality Enterprises and the over 70 hotels they manage please visit www.concordhotels.com

Friday, May 21, 2010

MARWAN HAGE, HAGE'S HEROS ON FTC CANADA

Marwan Hage, Hamilton Tiger-Cat and founder of Hage's Heros talks about food drops in Hamilton, ON and the partnership with FTC Canada (Feed The Children).

Friday, May 14, 2010

BUILDERS TEAM FROM EL SALVADOR TRIP SPEAK

As noted in the recent blog entry, volunteers from Ontario traveled to El Salvador to the little community of Amatitan.

The team worked hard rebuilding a feeding centre and working on homes that had been impacted by floods and landslides back in November, 2009. FTC Canada and Feed The Children Central America were grateful for the efforts. The workers were obviously impacted by their experience too:
"Now I did expect we would all work together well and for us to work really hard towards our goals, but I didn't expect so many happy faces at the end. Isn't it great when your expectations aren't met because they are so far surpassed?"

"Top ten reasons why El Salvador was such a success. #1-For all of you taking the leap and leaving the comforts of home and touching a fantastic community!"

"There was a lot more missing (from my day now) . . . the drive to the site every morning, the happy greetings of the locals, (and) the always smiling children ..."

"I now realize though that the most important message was to the people of Amititan. A message of hope, love and friendship."
FTC Canada extends it's thanks to this team again ... Gracias

Thursday, May 6, 2010

VOLUNTEERS LAY FOUNDATION IN EL SALVADOR

May 5th, 2010

Guelph, Ontario – 3,600 square feet of foundation, pillars, and walls was laid for the community of Amatitan, El Salvador this past April.

The trip was organized by Guelph based charity FTC Canada who sent down 9 volunteers to begin the rebuilding of a condemned feeding centre and homes for families who had lost theirs in a recent flood.

The team left on Saturday April 17th and began work the next day. The foundation had to be set, a concrete floor was laid, walls were erected and tables for the kitchen were built. The centre is a 20 by 40 ft concrete stable building that has a patio, kitchen, and washroom. Three of the four homes were started by the team with one of them reaching full completion. The homes themselves are close to 700 sq. ft. and are all scheduled to be completed by the summer.

“We are so grateful to our team of volunteers.” says Ken Dick, President of FTC Canada. “It’s an amazing thing for us and the community of Amatitan to have dedicated people like our volunteers give their time and energy towards this building project”

This is the first an FTC Canada construction team has sent overseas and the organization is planning for more in the future. FTC Canada would like to thank our volunteers Clive Ward-Able, Helen and John McGillivray, Jeff Mander, Robyn Tomaney, Rick Olazabal, Eduardo de Abreu, Lynda Quinn and John Sprawson as well as 5th Business Marketing and Labtician Ophthalmics Inc. for their commitment to helping improve the lives of children around the world.

DR. ANTHONY BROWN REFLECTS ON HAITI

Dr. Anthony Brown has been featured prominently in post about our medical-dental teams as he is the FTC Canada Medical Team Advisor, working closely with Ken Dick, President of FTC Canada.

This video was taken shortly after Dr. Brown returned from Haiti. He was there with a team that was assembled just days after the huge quake rocked Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

It is a trip that really had a deep impact on team members and some of that can be seen and felt in Dr. Browns stories.